Editing Headphones

powninja

powninja

Active member
NSer's I need advice. Right now I am looking for a set of 'over-ear' headphones that maximize audio quality for editing or viewing videos. So far the best I have experienced is the Bose Quiet Comfort headphones, which are $300. Any other suggestions for $300 or less?
 
What specifically are you going to use them for? When you say editing, are you talking about just editing skiing to an already defined soundtrack (i.e. a song), or are you doing more mixing than that with natural audio / interviews / etc.?
 
I am going to be showing my cinema reel to clients at an upcoming tradeshow, and I want the soundtrack I chose to have the best quality and 'WOW' effect. Hope that helps.
 
Hands down, I would go with the Bose QC15 (or whichever model number they are now). The noise canceling is unmatched and will help significantly in a trade-show setting. The acoustics of the headphones are very pleasing, but I wouldn't recommend them for any extensive audio mixing (they are bass-enhanced, not flat). For 'wow'-ing clients in a loud environment, Bose Quiet Comforts are going to be your best bet by far.
 
Look like a possible choice as well. I would lean more towards the Crossfade m-100's though, because they seem to be better for noise cancelling?
 
I dont think any of the bose models are meant for "real" sound mixing. They are not balanced headphones. You need to get something like those audio technicas or sennheisers. But that being said the bose will sound great and if your not doing really really serious sound work they will be fine. I have a pair of sennheisers but I mostly use my skullcandy aviators because they pack down really well and sound great and are more comfortable. If I am running a boom on a film set or doing some mixing for my sound class I will go with the sennheisers though.
 
I suppose you're right, not particularly important though due to the fact that they're built for DJ-ing a.k.a. loud, obnoxious, and distracting environment. For pure editing you could do away with some of the "noise cancelling" aspect and focus on pure sound quality. Look around those different options and I'm sure you'll find something you like that really fits the bill. A supporting detail is that they're quite literally the highest build quality I have ever seen out of any audio product. They've been know to withstand drops off 2 story building and last as long as you can imagine. Besides, Skrillex uses them, so they muuuuuust be pro.
 
Unless your parents are buying them, don't get Bose, they're a huge waste of money

Go to audiokarma.com and get advice from people who spend their life researching headphones, not nsers who like flashy skull candy ads. No offense to anyone, I'm just tired

A balanced headphone for mixing will not be very fun to listen to. They have less bass than anything, because they are balanced.
 
Got some bose ae-2s or whatever theyre called, just their standard over the ear headphone. I like them alot.
 
I would recommend akg k240. I have them for audio mixing and sound production and they work great. I think i picked them up for like 150 at guitar center. (but that was a few years back they might be cheaper now)
 
Unless you are actually doing sound design and mixing for your videos don't bother. The accuracy of the headphones is irrelevant unless you're actually making changes to the audio. Youre better off with 2 speakers so you get stereo sound. Headphones for sound design, monitors for mixing. Just saying. Do not get Bose, it's high fidelity audio and doesn't have a flat response. Maybe if you tell us what you're actually doing with your audio we can help, but for your purposes speakers are probably way better than headphones. Im not going to explain why, but headphones don't represent a stereo field accurately unless you break into the $1000 range or have a reeeaaallly high end sound card designed specifically for headphone-based mixing.
 
1) Monitoring sound via the headphone jack is a bad idea, as it has it's own Apple preamp which colors the sound. Using a USB audio interface with its own preamp is ideal.

2) There are two types of headphones (and speakers), the kind that sound good, and the kind that sound accurate. For monitoring, you want accuracy. Sennheiser/Audio Technica/AKG/Sony is what you're after.

3) In general, using headphones to monitor isn't ideal. Not that it matters since you want what you want, just thought I'd remind you in case you weren't aware.

I personally love the Sony MDR7506 headphones. They are relatively cheap and produce a balanced sound. I wouldn't spend any more than that on headphones, since monitors are the way to go.
 
Quoting this for emphasis.

JAHrig, Montins., and Landis are all completely on point and I agree 100% from a mixing/sound work standpoint. HOWEVER, it seems the OP is not actually doing any mixing, but simply wants a quality sounding headphone to showcase his work. Given that he will be using the headphones to solicit prospective clients in a loud showroom, I would say that Quiet Comforts would be the best route to go because of the noise canceling tech in them, in addition to the great sounding (though not accurate for mixing) acoustics.

Totally unrelated, have any of you mixed/monitored on Ultrasone headphones? A couple months ago, I needed to do some editing away from home, so I purchased the Pro750 and have been fairly pleased with them so far.
 
Yeah I totally agree with you there dayzed.

If your potential clients will be using the headphones then you can't go wrong with Bose. They'll like the sound, the brand, and the noise canceling for sure.

A little clarification would be helpful though OP! It's just like a "what camera" thread, more info is always better.
 
Like I said before.. the headphones will be used strictly for potential clients to view my work while attending a trade show in Las Vegas. Thanks for the input guys. I don't plan on using them for audio mixing.
 
100% agree with the post, I used the MDR7506's w/ external sound card to edit audio for 2 years. i no longer do much editing but they're a pretty unbeatable deal and decent enough that i use them for day-to-day use around my house.

not the best noise-canceling, but they have really true audio unlike bose/skullcandy/all other consumer headphones. if it sounds good coming through these headphones, you don't have to worry about how it's gonna sound coming through anything else.
 
not entirely related to OP but...

got tired of editing sound with headphones (even nice ones, as said before are terrible for mixing audio) and then some simple speakers. dropped in on some M-Audio BX8's and a BXS10...so happy.
 
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